Asymmetry of Hotel Ratings on TripAdvisor: Evidence from Single- Versus Dual-Valence Reviews

Abstract

Hotel ratings given by reviewers on travel-related social media sites are generally perceived as symmetric. Using the perspective of positive–negative asymmetry, we challenge this perception by comparing the prevalence of single- and dual-valence reviews associated with opposite hotel ratings. Drawing on the findings of a content analysis of 500 reviews of a hotel on TripAdvisor, followed by three-way log-linear analyses, we found that dual- (vs. single-) valence reviews appear more frequently in extremely negative (“terrible”) than extremely positive ratings (“excellent”), but less frequently in moderately negative (“poor”) than moderately positive ratings (“very good”). In addition, men posted more dual-valence reviews than women when the rating was “terrible.” The findings, which add to the positive–negative asymmetry literature, imply that users should not review an equal number of positive and negative reviews prior to their booking decisions, and that hoteliers should motivate more of their male guests to write online reviews.